The 2137 elections gave Republicans, Whigs and Greens a lot to think about. The Democratic vote had remained largely intact from 2133, while the opposition vote had been very heavily splintered between the three. This allowed the Democrats to not only win their first premiership election in almost 40 years, but also to gain control of both houses of the Legislature for the first time in history. With a majority and control of government in hand, the administration of J.D. Oliver moved quickly. Their first act was the expand workplace democracy and giving unions more power and say over day-to-day operations. When a group of copper mines threatened to shut down in response, the Oliver administration nationalized them (the resulting court case wouldn't be resolved for some time). Next, the Oliver administration nationalized the nickel mines in the Scarecrow Mountains (though many companies chose to sell to the government instead) and brought more regulations over the steel industry. These actions were controversial and were the largest spate of nationalization in the United States since the first administration of President Doug Grayson in the 2080s. However, the nationalization of power companies and consolidation into public power districts was well supported by both sides.
With Oliver's controversial movies, the opposition felt they had a good shot at retaking the legislature in 2139. The Republicans and Greens came to several agreements to not run against each other in several key districts. The Whigs refused such agreements. With a clean bill of health, Nelson Flores dumped millions of his own money into Whig campaigns and traveled across the country. Democratic and union support solidified around Oliver, as did many swing voters. Unemployment was down, population was rising, the mills and mines were humming along and the economy was growing, despite unease from the local stock market. Despite the collusion, the Republicans, Greens and Whigs split enough votes to give the Democrats an even larger majority, while the Whigs were completely shut out, losing all their seats in the House and not picking up any in the Senate.
The Republicans began a hard shift to the right in response. Former Premier Evan Reich lead early polls for the Republican nomination, but his campaign-not-campaign never got off the ground after the midterms (all the candidates he campaign for lost heavily). Senator Stephanie Bricker of Yale tried to bring the the Republicans back to the center, but after Republican Senate Leader Tiffany Rockwell was replaced with Monte Jones, Bricker bolted the party and joined the Greens. The Republicans were unable to settle on a candidate. They spent most of the winter of 2140 cycling through different candidates. Former Governor Evan Chase of Powhatan lead throughout the summer, though he was seen as boring an uninspiring. Video store mogul and right-wing darling (and Orcish American, able to deflect Democratic criticism on Republican racial policies) Arlen se'Nuhtama took the lead in late fall, but after allegations of sexual impropriety and harassment surfaced, he fell to the wayside. Former Representative Ike Lovering became the leader in the winter for a short while, until Republicans realized that Lovering's tenure as chair of the House Finance Committee had been disastrous and he had nearly lost them control in the late 2110s. Representative Jessica Bourne of Roanoke was the pride of anti-government minarchists for a short while, only to be replaced by Christian moralist and former Senator Rob Drinan of Mayflower. Se'Nuhtama temporarily regained the lead after that. During that whole time, Evan Chase remained in the back, often polling a strong second. After cycling through those candidates, the Republicans settled for Chase. Chase named Senate Minority Leader Monte Jones as his running mate.
Many moderate Republicans like Stephanie Bricker were aghast at the right-wing turn the Republicans had taken. Instead of flocking to the Whigs--which they saw as irredeemable vote splitters--they turned to the Greens. In the summer of 2140, the Oliver administration and the federal WPA announced a project to use low-yield nuclear devices in the Scarecrow Mountains to create new artificial lakes, road tunnels and strip mines. Republicans like Evan Chase were opposed to it because they saw it as government overstep and unnecessary pandering to the unions. However, mainline and moderate Republicans and the Greens were opposed to it because nuclear weapons. This gave the Greens a shot in the arm. The nomination quickly fell to Representative Nicole Burke of Cornucopia, a young and energetic politician first elected to the legislature in 2137 despite the Democratic wave. Burke, who was the Green Party Leader in the House, reached out to moderate Republicans by naming Senator Stephanie Bricker as her running mate.
Nelson Flores easily won the Whig Party nomination. The Whigs had a small but dedicated group of voters, but had little support outside of that. Flores's own personal popularity--he was a frequent regular on late-night talk shows--helped boost the Whigs somewhat, but not enough. He ran with former ambassador Hugh Willis, a former Democrat who left the party after Oliver's spate of nationalizations.
The campaign was a hard one. The Democrats focused on keeping their coalition and voters intact as they had in 2137. Oliver was intensely popular with Democratic voters and with the unions. The opposition had little chance of picking off voters from there. The Republicans and Greens hoped to massively increase turnout for the election since turnout for 2137 had been low. The opposition would undo itself once again. Flores and the Whigs gained extra votes, while a great many moderate Republicans abandoned Chase for Burke. Turnout was indeed up, which mostly benefited the Greens. But it wasn't enough to unseat Oliver who managed to hold on for a win over Chase, Burke and Flores. The Democrats also managed to hold onto their majority in both houses, though it did shrink slightly. The Whigs were once again shut out of the Legislature. Flores would announce his retirement from politics shortly after the election. The experiment of the radical center seemed to have failed as it simply shifted Cornucopia further to the left.
2133 Cornucopia
2137 Cornucopia